When you think of exercises that help you lose pounds, you can think of vigorous cardiovascular exercises like running or cycling. But walking can be a great weight-loss exercise if you do it consistently and keep your pace fast.
Weight loss occurs when you burn more calories than you take in. Any type of physical activity can help you do it, but there are many reasons why walking works so well. Let’s say it is the simplest form of aerobic exercise, making it an excellent choice for a weight loss starter plan. You can walk on a treadmill or outdoors, no financial investment is needed, and no special equipment is required other than a pair of walking shoes.
If you’ve just started a weight loss plan, a simple walking routine can help you burn more calories every day while increasing your fitness. Over time, you can add new movements to increase intensity and further increase calorie burning.
This schedule is designed to burn 200 to 400 calories a day , so you can accelerate weight loss by helping you lose more than a pound a week, assuming you also make some changes to your diet. Although it can take four to six weeks to obtain more remarkable results.
Your walking plan to lose weight
This plan starts with just 20 minutes of brisk walking. You will be able to walk a little more each day, and as you get fit you can add additional exercises to stay challenged and increase your burn.
Remember to keep a fast pace while walking – the goal is a moderate and somewhat hard pace. If you can’t talk while walking, you’re working too hard. If you can sing or talk a lot, you’re probably not working hard enough.
Day 1: 20 minute walk
- 5-minute warm-up: walk at a leisurely pace
- 10-minute brisk walk
- 5 minute cool down: walk at a leisurely pace
Day 2: 30 minute walk
- 5-minute warm-up: walk at a leisurely pace
- 20-minute brisk walk
- 5 minute cool down: walk at a leisurely pace
Day 3: 40 minute walk
- 5-minute warm-up: walk at a leisurely pace
- 30-minute walk at a fast pace with intervals: every 5 minutes, accelerate your pace for 30 seconds, then return to your base pace for 5 more minutes
- 5 minute cool down: walk at a leisurely pace
Day 4: 45 minute walk
- 5-minute warm-up: walk at a leisurely pace
- 35-minute walk at a fast pace: choose a route that has slopes to increase your intensity and overall calorie burning
- 5 minute cool down: walk at a leisurely pace
Day 5: 50 minute walk
- 5-minute warm-up: walk at a leisurely pace
- 40-minute hike at a fast pace: It’s another interval day, except this time, you’ll be doing high and low intervals much more frequently. Walk as fast as you can for 30 seconds and return to your reference fast pace for 60 seconds. Try to keep this as long as you can.
- 5 minute cool down: walk at a leisurely pace
Day 6: 60 minute walk
- 5-minute warm-up: walk at a leisurely pace
- 50-minute walk at a faster pace – focus on making your base pace a little faster than usual. (Listening to fast music can help you!)
- 5 minute cool down: walk at a leisurely pace
Day 7: 60 minute walk
- 5-minute warm-up: walk at a leisurely pace
- 50-minute walk with intervals: do 3 minutes at base pace and then 1 minute at a brisk pace. Maintain this 4 minute cycle for as long as 50 minutes you can.
- 5 minute cool down: walk at a leisurely pace
Increase intensity
Over time, as your fitness improves, you can make things even more challenging by adding a few power moves on your walk. Try things like:
Push-ups
Start face down on your hands and feet. Make sure to keep your body stiff as you go down and up and focus on bending your elbows completely. If the full push-ups are too challenging, do a push-up leaning against a wall.
Striding on site
Stand in a wide stride position with your feet parallel. Keep your front foot planted and your weight on the toe of your rear foot. Slowly lower your body down until your rear knee almost touches the ground while letting your front knee bend to 90 degrees. Keep the front knee straight on the front foot. Push up through the heel of your front foot and the toe of your rear foot until you get up again. (Don’t push forward, just push up.)
Griddle
Start on the floor lying on your stomach. Lift your toes and forearms, keeping your body completely straight (don’t let your hips sink or sting). If you find that this position is too intense, you can do the modified version on the toes and hands. The goal is to stay in this position as long as possible. At first, this could be only 10 seconds, but try to go up to 60 seconds or more.
Don’t forget your diet
It is difficult to lose weight just by exercising alone. It is very easy to eat more calories than you burn in a day, even if you exercise every day. If that happens, you could easily sabotage your efforts to lose weight or even gain weight.
You need to burn 3,500 calories to lose a pound of fat. To lose that pound in a week, you’ll want to eat about 500 fewer calories a day.
Eat smaller portions
Try to serve yourself a little less at each meal. Using a smaller plate or bowl can make it look like you’re still eating a generous amount.
Trade high-calorie foods for low-calorie foods
Use mustard on your sandwich instead of mayonnaise, make an omelette with vegetables instead of cheese, or a snack with an apple instead of a bun.
Have high-calorie treats less often
Save your cookies or ice cream to drink once or twice a week instead of every day.
Over time, these small dietary changes along with daily exercise will add up. You may see progress on the scale in as little as a week and start to notice a difference in the mirror within a month or so.
